Fabulous Turnout for Lyme’s Day of Service!

On Saturday, May 4, 2019, over 200 people participated in Lyme’s fourth annual Day of Service.

We started the day with 125 guests at our community breakfast at The Lyme School. Wow! Thanks so much to Jeff Valence and Tami Dowd. There was quite a buzz as everyone prepared for what proved to be a productive and fun event. The weather cooperated: There was a break from the rain, which was a relief, and even a few moments of sun. With temps in the 50s, conditions were perfect for getting out and getting the work done!

Individuals, families, and service groups (including Those Guys and a 4H team), turned up: 90 volunteers helped with all kinds of projects, and over 140 people greened up roads.  Many volunteers worked on more than one project or road. Both volunteers and service recipients looked forward to the big day, with some volunteers going back to help the same friends they had met during a previous year’s Day of Service.

The organizing team of Sue Hanlon, Kathy McGowan, Lynn McRae and Erin Wetherell did an incredible job!! If you see them, please congratulate them and thank them for sharing their love and energy to involve us all. Erin, who grew up in Lyme, offered, “My favorite part of the Day of Service is folks coming together for good– and for “good” in whatever way feels best for them. Whether it’s washing dishes at the community breakfast, greening up a patch of road, or raking leaves for a senior, the town comes together in the spirit of connection and community, and that fuels me and connects me to my roots.”

By Saturday afternoon, we had run into several people who were delighted with the day. Said one happy Lyme resident: “I had four doctors at my house! They did an amazing job—even more than I had hoped.”

Here are just a few moments that made us smile:

On Saturday morning, we received an email from Hanover High student Jack Lynch, hoping he wasn’t too late to help out. Thanks to some cell coverage luck, we were able to match him up with a team, and he jumped right in. After the event, he wrote: “Thank you very much for organizing the Day of Service, days like that make me want to stay in Lyme forever.”

A four-family raking party (Gartners, Princes, Voegeles, and Tadlocks) came together to take on a big job at a very appreciative neighbor’s home.

Celeste and Walter Wetherell cleaned up the shore of Post Pond via Canoe, as they have every year.

Jay Davis, who participates in the Day of Service with his family every year, said, “We again so appreciated the opportunity to connect with elder members of our community.  Always a great source of perspective, including a nonagenarian allowing as how he might need to eventually move away from cutting his own wood…”.

Susan Musty, a neighbor who was recovering from a broken wrist, received help from Nancy and Mant Copeland and Theresa Mundy. “It was a joy to work with my group of volunteers, who stacked wood and got the sand and gravel off the grass back on the road edge,” she said. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the tip of my hands.”

Nancy: “We had such a lovely time. Susan had chocolates and drinks for us for a little break. We left with a bouquet of fresh picked daffodils and several new perennial transplants. It was so neat that we helped her and then we left with plant and flower clippings from her yard to ours.”

It really was a special day! Check out the photos below.

If you have more photos or more stories to share, please contact us at 603-795-0603.